A bookshop donated 189 books to schools in Ryedale as part of its World Book Day campaign.

Pickering Book Tree ran a three-week campaign before Christmas where it gifted £1 for every £10 spent.

Customers donated an initial £140 which brought the total to £912.

The family-run shop, which opened in 2022 in Pickering’s Market Place, used this money to distribute the books to 11 Ryedale primary schools for World Book Day on Thursday (March 7).

It followed the store’s successful campaign for World Book Day last year.

Stephanie Bundy, who owns the shop with her husband Andrew and daughter Cathy, said the shop was “delighted” to support schools in Pickering in its first year.

“Thanks to everyone who shopped with us in the run-up to Christmas and the generosity of our customers, we have this year been able to offer the same to schools in our neighbouring villages,” she said.

“School and classroom libraries are so important in developing a love of reading at an early age.

Gazette & Herald: Thornton Dale Primary School pupils with the donations from Pickering Book TreeThornton Dale Primary School pupils with the donations from Pickering Book Tree (Image: Pickering Book Tree)

“We understand how tight funding for new books is, especially when not directly tied to the curriculum, and hope that these new books will go some way to help by adding to the range of choice in the fantastic libraries at each school.”

Andrew Bundy said he was “thrilled” to be able to donate books to schools.

“Reading for pleasure brings many well-proven benefits, and equal access to an exciting and wide choice of books via school library areas is so important in helping children find books to spark a lifelong reading habit,” he added.

World Book Day is a worldwide event celebrated in more than 100 countries.

Pickering Book Tree distributed a range of this year’s free book choices to 17 schools in the area. 

Stephanie added: “With the combination of donations and World Book Day, at one stage we had 32 boxes stacked up on the shop floor ready to go out to schools.”

More events planned this year

Pickering Book Tree plans to host more events this year.

“World Book Day may have passed, but we have lots of exciting events planned for children and adults over the coming months,” Cathy said.  

Read next:

The bookshop offers Story Time Saturdays, where young children can hear a different picture book at 11am each week.

It is also due to host two daytime Meet the Author sessions for children over the Easter holidays, several author visits for adults, and a series of folk music evenings.

“As we move into Spring, now is the perfect time for all ages to celebrate the joy of reading,” Andrew added.

For more information about the bookshop and upcoming events can be found online at pickeringbooktree.co.uk or on Pickering Book Tree’s social media pages.